With the recent all-time highs achieved by Bitcoin, the spotlight has once again fallen on blockchain and cryptocurrencies as a technology that has the potential to transform the future. Although Bitcoin is indisputably the king when it comes to price, many other cryptocurrencies are being developed everyday that may have the potential to rival or replace Bitcoin one day. Let’s take a look at the VC firms investing in blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

Venture Capital (VC) firms are just one of the players in this hot market. As blockchain technologies are still maturing and have room for growth, technology startups are funded everyday that look into improving or adapting Bitcoin’s underlying systems for various use cases. VC firms can choose which stage of a project they wish to invest in, and often take positions in the tokens or projects they invest in. Some of them are exclusively cryptocurrency-focused, while others may have specific venture arms that are focused on cryptocurrencies.

The VC Firms Investing In Blockchain And Cryptocurrencies

Let’s take a look at some of the largest names that are backing Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies or up-and-coming blockchain projects and businesses today:

1. Andressen Horowitz, “a16z”

Andreessen Horowitz, or “a16z”, has funded some of the largest technology companies in the world. Their founders, Andreessen and Horowitz, actively invested in startups that have evolved into super-unicorns – their most well known investment being Twitter. In fact, the venture capital fund itself was launched on 6 July 2009 with an initial capitalization of $300 million – at that point in time, Bitcoin was just a little over 6 months old.

Their cryptocurrency arm, “a16z Crypto”, has over $865 million under management across two funds, and has been investing in various crypto assets since 2013. Their philosophy looks to cryptocurrency investment from a patient level, prepared to hold investments for 10+ years. Some of the largest investments they have include Coinbase, Maker, Uniswap and even the controversial Libra (Facebook’s cryptocurrency).

2. Digital Currency Group

The Digital Currency Group is one of the largest and most well known names exclusively investing into the cryptocurrency space – and also one of the first. Being so early in the blockchain investment space, they have made the most number of blockchain investments compared to all other VCs.

They have made significant investments and are critical in the formation of today’s cryptocurrency giants, such as Ledger, Circle, Bitpay, Coinbase, Kraken, Ripple and even the largest crypto news site Coindesk.

3. Pantera Capital

Pantera Capital takes investing in cryptocurrencies to a new level by being a hybrid hedge fund and venture fund. They explore making investments not just in blockchain companies, but also hold positions in cryptocurrencies. Today, they have 52 venture investments listed on their site, while their token fund holds active investments in the cryptocurrency tokens of  39 different projects. Their portfolio includes well-known names such as BitGo, Blockfolio, Brave, Coinbase, Bitstamp and FTX.

4. Fenbushi

One of the earliest Asia-based blockchain venture capital firms, Fenbushi is well known for being publicly supported by Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin as an advisor. Their portfolio includes over 60 leading projects across the globe, with a primary mission to drive healthy and sustainable growth in the global blockchain ecosystem.

Fenbushi has invested in projects such as Vechain, Zcash, Circle, Block.one (EOS) and other major projects that kickstarted the massive wave of ICO hype.

5. Polychain Capital

Polychain Capital operates a hybrid approach similarly to Pantera Capital, being a hedge fund and venture investment group. They have an actively managed portfolio of blockchain assets and have also raised significant rounds from other VCs while maintaining its own independent investment team.

Notably, they have invested in recent DeFi giants Compound and MakerDao, and have been outspoken on the nature and future of DeFi. Check out CEO Olaf Carlson-Wee’s Unchained podcast back in September.

Plenty Of Fish – And Sharks – In The Sea

In addition to independent VC companies, huge companies like Binance and Coinbase also operate venture investment arms (Binance Labs and Coinbase Ventures respectively). Many other massive traditional VC firms have also started to look into cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies actively. Here’s a non-exhaustive list of top crypto investor names outside of our list that you can trust:

  • Blockchain Capital
  • Boost VC
  • Node Capital
  • DHVC
  • 500 Startups
  • FBG Capital
  • Union Square Ventures
  • Galaxy Digital
  • Sequoia Capital
  • Google Ventures
  • Protocol Ventures
  • Draper Associates
  • ConsenSys Ventures
  • Hashed
  • ZhenFund
  • Collaborative Fund
  • NGC Ventures
  • Lightspeed Venture Partners
  • Kenetic Capital
  • BlockVC
  • Outlier Ventures
  • 8 Decimal Capital
  • Multicoin Capital
  • Winklevoss Capital
  • Signum Capital
  • Zk Capital
  • Primitive Ventures

These top crypto investment firms conclude our list of the VC firms investing in blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Connect with and learn more about where the money is in blockchain and cryptocurrencies by following us at Oobit. Oobit is a financial service that makes buying and selling digital currency easy, simple and lets you use crypto with the same ease as traditional money. We connect and introduce what would be an endless maze of information surrounding blockchains, and build tools that enhance the crypto user experience.

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